1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to talking books having entertainment and educational value, and more particularly to an interactive talking book and audio player assembly in which the text printed on the page of a book open to the reader is read aloud, the spoken text being digitally recorded and stored in a ROM module secured to the back cover of the book, the player being also adapted to read aloud a question printed on the page related to the printed text, and to indicate whether the reader who selects a right or wrong answer printed on the page made the right choice.
2. Status of Prior Art
Educators recognize that the ability of a child to learn to read well is directly related to the number of faculties a child is called upon to exercise during the learning process. Thus when a child looks at the words of a text as the words are read aloud to him, this learning technique coordinates sight word recognition with phonetics and proper pronunciation. And if the printed text of the book is accompanied by drawings or pictures which illustrate the text, these illustrations facilitate comprehension of the printed text.
But it is not enough for a child to learn to read the words of a printed text and to know how these words sound, for it is fully as important that the child understand the meaning of the text. To promote such understanding, it is necessary to interrogate the child to see whether he has grasped the meaning of the text he has read.
Thus computerized interactive teaching machines are known which present on the screen of a display terminal a printed text providing the reader with certain information to be learned. After reading this text, the reader then presses a button which causes the screen to present a question relating to the information and at least two possible answers thereto, only one of which is correct. By pressing an answer button, the reader indicates his choice for an answer, and the machine then indicates whether the reader has selected the correct answer. Such teaching machines, while of significant educational value, are relatively complex and expensive, and beyond the reach of most consumers. Moreover, they do not facilitate the acquisition of reading skills in that the printed text is not reproduced as a spoken text.
It is also known to provide talking books which include means to reproduce the printed text as spoken messages. Thus Glass et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,132 discloses an audio-visual educational device for children constituted by a book and a phonograph mechanism, with phonograph records bearing messages pertinent to the book in sequential order to the pages of the book. The phonograph includes a switch mechanism on the supporting surface of the book for actuating the record mechanism for a cycle of operation corresponding to a limited portion of the book. As the pages of the book are turned, the switch is again actuated to play a subsequent portion of the record corresponding to a subsequent portion of the book.
The Ross U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,538 discloses an educational aid to teach reading which takes the form of a book having lines of printed text and sound recordings of the text on associated magnetic strips. A magnetic pickup is drawn manually or by a spring mechanism along the magnetic strips to play back the recordings.
In Goetz et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,832, a book is disclosed which is associated with a phonograph adapted to play recorded messages corresponding to printed matter on each page of the book. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,098, a sound-illustrated book is disclosed which includes sound record areas in the form of a spiral track associated with individual pages. U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,684 shows a teaching device for simultaneously teaching the reading and pronunciation of words, the device combining a housing which has the appearance of a book and a tape player within the housing, a replaceable pre-recorded tape and a printed book being detachably mounted on the housing. The text printed in the book corresponds to that recorded on the tape.
In Brefka et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,881, a talking book is disclosed having front and back panels. A microcassette tape player and logical circuitry associated with left and right infrared detectors are located on top of the back panel. A ring binder is located at the left of the back panel adjacent the spline and below the left and right infrared detectors. A housing below the ring binder carries an infrared source that energizes the detectors which serve to identify the page being read. In this arrangement, the tape player carries recorded information related to the page being viewed that automatically starts when a page is turned.
Also of background interest in regard to talking books are Schwartz U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,027; Kantrowitz U.S. Pat. No. 3,086,297; Samuels U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,680; Folsom U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,150; Krainin U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,734, and Mayhew U.S. Pat. No. 1,236,333.